First-rate innings from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma helped India ratchet their lead up to 339 on an Eden Gardens pitch that had begun to misbehave more frequently
The Report by Alagappan Muthu02-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:10
Agarkar: Some tactical errors from NZ have let them down
India had two huge things in their favour on Sunday – a first-innings lead and a first-rate innings from Virat Kohli. While his team-mates copped good ones or were roughed up by the variable bounce in the pitch, the Indian captain found a way to be at ease in the face of a fired-up New Zealand pace attack. It took a truly naughty delivery, one that was pitched short but stayed extremely low, to dismiss him five short of a fifty. By then, he had taken the sting out of the new ball and paved the way for Rohit Sharma to ratchet the lead up to 339. Never had a team made as many in the fourth innings at Eden Gardens and the highest target chased down at the venue was a mere 117.The key to batting in tough conditions seems absurdly simple when you put it in words – moving your feet quickly and meeting the ball late. Kohli showed signs of that very early in his innings. His comfort at the crease rattled New Zealand and it wasn’t like they didn’t have good plans against him. They tried bouncing him out with short leg, leg gully and deep square leg in place. But Kohli shuffled across, swiveled on his back foot, rolled his wrists over the ball, and made sure it went to ground. Then came the full and wide deliveries. Kohli either avoided them or got his front foot right forward, meaning he could play the cover drive with his hands a lot closer to his body.With time at the crease, Kohli displayed aspects of his game that have made him irresistible in one-day cricket. Awareness of the field: in the 17th over, with Neil Wagner bowling from around the wicket with a packed leg-side field, Kohli carved a bouncer to the vacant third man boundary. Manipulating the field: in the 20th over, he took a tossed-up delivery from Jeetan Patel and flicked it a yard or two to the left of short midwicket but kept it several feet to the right of mid-on.A free-flowing half-century from Rohit took the game even further away from New Zealand. He had coped well when the ball was new and was reacting in bizarre ways off the deck. But as it got older and softer, it became easier to line up and few players can hit through the line as well as he can. In the 40th over, Rohit took a short ball from Boult and deposited it in the stands behind deep square leg. The timing was pristine. A large crowd at Eden Gardens – who have been spoiled by Rohit before – was treated to picture-perfect cover drives and cuts that ranged from delicate to dismissive. From 29 off 59 balls, finished on 82 off 132.New Zealand had had their moments early in the day. This third-day surface was such that consistently bowling back of a length in line with the stumps, or just outside off, would provide rich reward. Matt Henry had proved as much in his first spell, setting up M Vijay with three short balls before a beautiful, pitched-up outswinger took the edge and went to slip. Cheteshwar Pujara was given the same treatment, but the short balls he faced were a lot more venomous. One barely rose over the stumps, another rapped him on the glove. When the fuller one came, Pujara was lbw. Replays, however, indicated the ball would have gone down leg.India’s lead was at 136. Two of their best batsmen had been dismissed. And those in the dressing room may still have felt nervous because the pitch was starting to misbehave more frequently.In the first over of India’s second innings, a good length ball from Trent Boult reared up and hit Shikhar Dhawan’s left hand. In the third over, another delivery bouncing extravagantly, this time off a shortish length, forced a break in play as Dhawan was hit on the same hand and needed medical attention. He was on 0 for 14 balls before he hit a fuller and wider delivery through the covers for four. On Test comeback, he would have preferred a less stern examination. And perhaps a few more runs than 17.Henry bounced Ajinkya Rahane out, benefiting from the ball coming off the deck a little slower than the batsman expected. India were 43 for 4 but, for the second time in the day, New Zealand lost focus after beginning quite well.They had resumed their first innings in the morning at 128 for 7 and were propped up by BJ Watling and Patel, who added 60 runs for the eighth wicket. But after a rain break, R Ashwin broke the partnership with his first ball of the day, a beauty that danced away from Patel in the air and turned his slog over midwicket into a top-edge that was caught just beyond the cut strip at mid-off. The wicket had come after India had changed the ball and Patel was dismissed for his highest Test score of 47.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the third over of the day, established that reverse swing was on offer. He had taken five wickets in 10 overs on Saturday and had he added one more this morning he could have become the first Indian pacer to take a six-for at home this century. However, it is his partner who is better at making the old ball a threat. Mohammed Shami pinned Watling in front of middle with a full-length delivery that curved in late and quite rapidly too. In his next over, he had the No. 10 Wagner lbw as well and New Zealand were all out for 204.